By Lee Hyo-sik
Staff Reporter

A 46-year old woman, who wants to be identified only by her last name, Kang, lives with her 12 year-old son in Anyang, Kyonggi Province, after she divorced her alcoholic and abusive husband eight years ago.
``I thought that I would be better off separating from my ex-husband who drank day and night even though it means I had to find a job afterwards,’’ she said.

Kang said she is now much happier living with her son even if they are not financially well off.

Another single mother, who wants to be identified only as Kim, 48, has been living with her two daughters since she divorced her ex-husband who physically abused her 10 years ago.

``Life is hard without a man in the house. But things have been much better for us without my ex-husband who used to hit us,’’ Kim said.

But she is worried about whether she will be able to send her daughters to college as she earns a little more than 1 million won ($1,000) per month as an insurance sales person.

``I am more concerned about their future marriages. I think that there are not many men these days who are willing to marry women from the poor and broken family,’’ she said with a sigh.

Like Kang and Kim, the number of single mothers who are experiencing financial hardship has increased dramatically over the years because of the high divorce rate.

In the past, Korean women used to put up with their abusive and uncaring husbands because they relied on them for money.

But as more women hold jobs and achieve financial independence, they hesitate less to divorce their husbands and gain custody of their children.

According to the National Statistical Office, about one million households out of 15.9 million nationwide were headed by single mothers in 2005.

The Statistical Office expects the number to rise even higher in the future as more married women with financial means refuse to put up with a bad marriage, and raise children on their own.

A small number of women hold high-income professional jobs, including doctors and lawyers, but most single mothers hold low-paying and often non-regular positions.

Lee, a 46 year-old single mother, said that since 1998 when she divorced her ex-husband she has been working as a caregiver at a hospital making 650,00 won per month. Her husband’s business went bankrupt following the Asian financial crisis.

``I have nothing left in my bank account even though I have worked hard over the years because more than 80 percent of my salary goes to raising my two sons,’’ Lee said with a sigh.

Despite a rise in the number of women participating in various economic activities over the past few years, many of them, particularly those without university degrees, are engaged in low-paying non-regular jobs.

Even if they work in regular jobs, they usually get paid less than their male co-workers.

Experts say that stable jobs are the most important thing to single mothers because attaining financial independence is a must for supporting the family.

It is also important for the government and private companies to remove discrimination against female workers in workplace, they said.

``In countries like Japan and Germany, the governments are implementing a wide array of child support programs to help single mothers work without much difficulty and nurse their children,’’ said Park Soo-mi, research fellow at the Korean Women’s Development Institute.

She added that the Japanese government provides a monthly allowance of about 120,000 won to each household headed by a single mother, while Sweden operates state-funded daycare centers across the country.

Park said the Korean government should extend its financial and vocational assistance to single mothers because the majority are having a hard time finding stable jobs and do not receive child support from ex-husbands.

According to the Korea Legal Aid Center for Family Relations, about 61.3 percent of divorced women did not receive child support from their spouse last year.

``I think that creating regular and high-paying jobs for single mothers is a more effective way to help them stand on their own feet, rather than blindly provide monetary child support,’’ Park stressed.

leehs@koreatimes.co.kr